`Oppn lost moral right to talk about corruption`

Congress on Saturday stepped up its attack on BJP over the jail term awarded to its former chief Bangaru Laxman in a bribery case, saying the Opposition has lost the moral right to talk about corruption.

New Delhi: Congress on Saturday stepped up its attack on BJP over the jail term awarded to its former chief Bangaru Laxman in a bribery case, saying the Opposition has lost the moral right to talk about corruption.

"It is for the first time that the former President of a national party has been found guilty of corruption and been sentenced. It`s the right time for BJP to introspect and self-analyse. The opposition party has lost all moral rights to talk about corruption," party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said.

However, the Congress leader maintained this was no happy occassion for him either, as such incidents batter the credibility of politicians.

His party colleague Shakeel Ahmed rued that "incidents like this strengthen the hands of anti-democratic forces and only serve to increase the abhorrence towards the political class."

BJP has sought to wash its hands of the jail term awarded to Laxman saying the order is part of a legal process which does not involve the party as the liability is personal.

A Delhi court sentenced Laxman today to four years in jail and imposed on him a fine of Rs 1 Lakh. He had been caught in a sting operation, conducted by news portal Tehelka, where he is shown accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh to fix a fictitious defence deal in 2001.